GWC Bulletin No 1 - 20 Feb 2018

Green Wedges Coalition - a vision for Melbourne

Bulletin No 1 – 20 February 2018

This is an occasional publication to highlight issues of major importance to the future of the Green Wedges and is also posted on the organisation’s website at www.gwc.org.au

PLACES OF WORSHIP – BULK AND SCALE A THREAT TO GREEN WEDGES

This is a call to help to quantify the increasing threat posed to the Green Wedges by applications for large places of worship and other large scale built form developments.

The availability of relatively cheap land, and the reluctance of Councils to say no to applications inappropriate to protecting the values of the Green Wedges, seems to have encouraged a rash of proposals for temples, churches and mosques that have the potential to transform the Green Wedges into quasi urban areas.

An unfortunate example of this activity is in the South East Green Wedge where there are currently four outstanding applications, one for a very large Coptic Church Complex that would have towers as tall as a seven storeyed building.  The church would be accompanied by a plant nursery, horse stables, a soccer pitch. an indoor sports complex and a substantial priests’ dwelling, all in the open, rural grazing, land of Lyndhurst.

Last year an application was approved for a place of worship complex in the Green Wedge at Carrum Downs whose buildings had a total larger footprint that the Bunnings store at Frankston!

We plan to go to the daily newspapers to get some coverage of this problem and also to raise it with the Minister for Planning.

To help us get the facts for this important story, please let me know the details of any applications for places of worship in your, or nearby, Green Wedge that are currently outstanding or have been approved by Council or VCAT over the past two or three years.

We are also interested in any other applications for other proposed large scale built developments (e.g. tourism,) that you may be aware of in your areas of the Green Wedges.

Your examples

Please send any information on examples in your area to the Secretary, Green Wedges Coalition at email:  sec@gwc.org.au.